Method of manufacturing watch dials with numerals in relief and having chamfered edges



DEC 3, F U R METHOD OF MANUFACTURING WNIEGHA DEALS WITH NUMERALS IN; RELIEF AND HAVING CHAMFERED EUGES Eiled Fb-. 3 19.39

\NVENTOR' ANDRE FLucmeER Patented Dec. 3, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Andre Fliickiger, Saint-Imier, Switzerland Application February 3, 1939, Serial No. 254,513 In Switzerland December 21, 1938 2 Claims.

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing watch dials with numerals in relief and having chamfered faces.

In the first watch dials with numerals in relief 5 the numerals were attached to their base by means of feet. This permitted numerals of any desirable form and surface to be used and allowed of the surface of the dial to be finished in any manner whatever to give it adull or a bright look or to colour it or not, according to the wish of the future owner of the watch.

This manner of procedure did very well for luxury watch dials selling at a very high price. But in the course of time it was sought to form the numerals or characters by stamping the dial. In this way characters were obtained with faces perpendicular or approximately perpendicular to the dial. When this stamping was done the under-surface of the dial was finished without taking heed to the characters and thereafter also the upper surfaces of the characters were polished.

It is easily understood that by this method Only characters with perpendicular side-faces were 5 possible and that even these perpendicular faces could not be very high because a mechanical finishing could notbe applied to said faces without impairing the under-surface of the dial. By giving the characters, however, only a small 30 height, the side-faces of these characters could be left unfinished without damaging the aesthetic appearance.

Owing to the above reasons stamping the characters with bevelled faces was never thought of,

35 because it was impossible to give these faces, in-

clined with regard to the under-surface of the dial, the polish required for the intended effect in characters with a center edge. The dial with separate relief characters having bevelled faces 40 attached to the dial was, up to date, reserved for luxury watches only.

The object of the present invention is a method of producing dials with relief numerals or characters with charnfered faces, by means of stamp- 45 ing; a method which allows of the finishing necessary to obtain the desired appearance to be given to the faces, inclined with respect of the under-surface of the dial. This method comprises stamping the characters either with 50 chamfered or perpendicular faces, polishing these characters whereby all their faces are accessible without damaging anything, then covering these characters with a protecting varnish which allows of the finishing of the under-surface of the dial.

5 Preferably a varnish is chosen which is easily removed when the dial has been finished or a varnish which is removed by the lastchemical operation to which thedial is subjected. This may, e. g., be done in the usual manner with the help of solvents.

The annexed drawing embodies, as an example, certain faces of the method according to the present invention.

Fig. 1 shows a cross section of the dial across two numerals,

Figs. 2, 3 and 4 are cross sections of the same 10 character at different phases of its finishing.

By means of a stamping tool having hollow characters a sheet of metal is stamped whereby the characters a are formed, standing out from the under-surface I). These characters may be 5 polished by means of felt rollers c by working each face separately, unless the two faces, touching each other in a center edge, be worked simultaneously. Of course this work cannot be performed without also touching the under-surface 20 of the dial, but this being still raw, no damage is done.

After having polished the characters they are covered with a protecting varnish, for instance, shellac dissolved in alcohol or opaque or transparent cellulose solution. This is the state of the characters shown in Fig. 3. Then the undersurface of the dial is treated as if there were no characters present, that is to say, it is covered with a varnish or an enamelling or with ornaments applied by any transferring means. When the under-surface of the dial has been finished the characters are cleaned by treating them with a solvent for the varnish coating and the dial is ready for use.

What I claim is: i

1. A method of producing watch dials with beveled face indicia, comprising stamping beveled face indicia in a watch dial, polishingthe beveled faces of the stamped indicia, covering the polished beveled faces with a protecting varnish layer, finishing the surface of the dial unprotected by the varnish, and then removing the varnish layer from the beveled polished surfaces of the indicia.

2. A method of producing watch dials with 45 beveled face indicia, comprising stamping beveled face indicia in a watch dial, polishing the beveled faces of the stamped indicia to form a sharp center edge at thejuncture of the beveled faces, covering the polished beveled faces with a protecting varnish layer, finishing the surface of the dial unprotected by the varnish, and then removing the varnish layer from the beveled polishedsurfaces of the indicia.

ANDRE FLUCKIGER. 

